Lansford man charged with theft

Friday, May 25, 2012

Richard Harvilla, 37, no address, faces charges from an incident which took place on May 19 at 3:43 p.m. on East Patterson Street, Lansford. Charges of criminal trespass, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and public drunkenness were filed by Officer Timothy Wuttke. Harvilla was arraigned before District Judge Casimir Kosciolek and committed to prison.

Here's what happened, according to an affidavit of probable cause:

Wuttke was called by members of the Lansford Ambulance Corps to meet them at their building. When he arrived, he spoke with Johnathan Oakes, who pointed to a man sitting in a chair in front of the building.

The man, he said, had just walked into the building and ate three slices of pizza and took two Monster energy drinks from the refrigerator.

Oakes said that volunteer ambulance workers had just returned from a call and were in the back of the building when they heard a door shut. They went to see who had come in, and found the man at the refrigerator.

The volunteers had no idea who he was.

The man ran when they confronted him, but the volunteers gave chase and he returned to the building with them.

Wuttke asked the man, who he could see was drunk and holding a half-gallon of liquor in an iced tea container, what was going on.

The man, identified as Harvilla, admitted going into the building, and that he knew he wasn't supposed to be there. He also admitted eating the pizza and taking the energy drink because he was homeless, hungry and thirsty.